pired some of these men with a
spirit of disaffection to the government; for, according to Mr.
Chambers, the most rigid sect of Presbyterians had, since the
revolution, expressed a strong desire to coalesce with the Jacobites,
with the hope, in case the house of Stuart were restored, to obtain what
they called a covenanted king. Of this sect one thousand had assembled
in Dumfriesshire at the first intelligence of the insurrection, bearing
arms and colours, and supposed to contemplate a junction with the
Chevalier. But these religionists were now almost as violently distinct
from the Established Church of Scotland as ever they had been from those
of England and Rome, and had long ceased to play a prominent part in the
national disputes. The Established clergy, and the greater part of their
congregations, were averse to Charles upon considerations perfectly
moderate, at the same time not easy to be shaken.

On commencing his march into England, Charles found himself at the head
of an army of between five thousand and six thousand men, which force
was considered strong enough, with the augmentations it might receive on
the way, to effect the occupation of London. Had the English Jacobites
performed their part with the same zeal as the Scots, it is more than
probable that the attempt would have been crowned with success. As it
was, the Prince succeeded in reducing the strong fortified town of
Carlisle, and in marching, without opposition, through the heart of
England, as far as Derby, within one hundred miles of the metropolis.
But here his better genius deserted him. Discord had crept into his
councils; for some of the chiefs became seriously alarmed at finding
that the gentry of England were not prepared to join the expedition, but
preferred remaining at home inactive spectators of the contest. Except
at Manchester, they had received few or no recruits. No tidings had
reached them from Wales, a country supposed to be devoted to the cause
of King James, whilst it was well known that a large force was already
in arms to oppose the clans. Mr. Chambers gives us the following
details. "At a council of war held on the morning of the 5th December,
Lord George Murray and the other members gave it as their unanimous
opinion that the army ought to return to Scotland. Lord George pointed
out that they were about to be environed by three armies, amounting
collectively to about thirty thousand men, while their own forces were
not abov